The lab really was a sanctuary.

Just not mine.

Lumiose city was expansive, much bigger than I’d originally realized when I was sitting in a car. The actual walk was daunting and slow in comparison to speeding around the streets. Suddenly, I found myself wishing I had a car even if just for a few minutes.

Most because walking through the streets was akin to being a rat trapped in a maze. Only this maze didn’t have cheese, nor did I have the sense of smell to tell where I was going. In other words, I was just walking.

My legs felt a bit sore, sure. Not to the point that I feel as if I needed to sit down. I found myself blending in quite easily with the slightly crowded streets of Lumiose. Though it felt like I was the only one who actually enjoyed wearing the color black. Besides myself, other people had vibrant colors that made my eyes want to pop out of their sockets.

There was too much happening at once. Children and pokemon ran through the streets without any care at all, vendors on both sides of the road called out selling their different products, shops lit up every inch of the block. How do people operate in this kind of environment?

“Young Lady! With the jacket.” I whirl around at the voice just a foot to my side. An elderly woman standing behind a stall with small cupcake looking foods laid out stood before me. She was wearing an apron with a pictograph of a Charmander running across the front. “Yes, you!” She affirms my confused expression.

“How about trying a poke puff? I’ve got plenty of samples!”

I put my hands up to show they’re empty. “Sorry, I don’t have any money. I can’t buy any. Besides, I don’t even know what a poke puff is.”

“You don’t know what a-” I swear if the woman gasped any harder, her heart would have given out. “A poke puff is something that you share between yourself and your pokemon. Tasty little treats that everyone loves.”

“Wow, sounds great.” I reply with sarcasm, not even bothering to hide it.

“Doesn’t it?” Wow, I don’t know if she just didn’t notice, or chose to ignore it, but she is too excited about these things. “I couldn’t let you leave without trying one-”

You could actually.

“-So how about trying one of these?” The woman holds out a platter with an orange poke puff swirling up with a pink frosting. On top was a strawberry cut perfectly in half to allow the inner juices to pour down the sides. It was like a volcano of foods on one small, round, meal.

I wasn’t sure if I should be impressed by how much a person could fit onto the cylindrical appetizer or weirded out by how unappealing it looked to me, but it was free.

Seeing no harm in trying it out if I wasn’t paying, I picked the puff up and took a big clean bite right into the center. An explosion of flavor hit me all at once and… it wasn’t that good? It was just strawberry and some velvety flavors. It’s not that the poke puff really tasted bad or anything but after looking at the presentation set by the poke puffs at the stall, the flavor itself was wildly underwhelming in comparison to how they looked.

I swallowed. “It’s alright I guess.”

The elderly woman raises a brow. “You must be a picky young lady; I’ve never met someone who didn’t like poke puffs.”

I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. “They’re just not my thing, thanks for letting me try one.” I thanked the woman before walking away. The last thing I needed was for her to make me try even more in order to find one I eventually liked, if that would be any.

My walk continued pretty much in rinse and repeat mode. I walked onto some new street, looked at a few stalls, couldn’t actually get anything, and moved on. A few passersby attempted conversation with me, and I did get a compliment for my jacket, which I had been grateful towards, but it was particularly uneventful.

All this journey and I was progressively pushing my way to the south side of town, like an instinct I was homing in on. That is, until I came across a building I’d never seen before. It was massive, much bigger than Sycamore’s mansion of a laboratory. Glass windows paved their way all around the structure and it looked as if it were built to take hits from some of the strongest pokemon. Nearly like a fortress. On the front was a picture of a pokemon battlefield with the words “Battle Club” under it.

Just as I read the words to myself the ground shook under me. I don’t mean from my wobbly legs either, like actually shaking from an earthquake kind of deal. Inside the building a massive explosion could be heard, with a couple equally loud shouting from what I could only assume was a pokemon battle.

I was planning on heading inside to check it out however, I was being followed. He wasn’t exactly hiding it either.

“How long are you planning on standing over there?” I called out to my blue pawed friend, who was walking over from a tree he had been waiting beside.

“Why’d you follow me?” I asked as soon as he reached me.

“Lucario.” ‘Why’d you leave?’

“Fair enough. Do you want to go inside?” I asked again, choosing to change the subject.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

He only gave me a flat stare for a moment, and I became self-conscious after remembering right away that Lucario could sense my aura. Lucky for me, he decided to let the subject drop and walked past me towards the battle club. I had to admit, I was pretty excited to go inside the building at least, the explosion brought my adrenaline way up.

We were only about 5 feet inside the door when a blue bullet shot by my head, embedding itself neatly into the wall with a terrifying crash. I whirled to my left to see that Gloom, who was now all swirly eyed, was knocked out and I looked back the direction that it came from after hearing a shout.

“Gloom is unable to battle! The winner of the battle is Jonathan and his pokemon Pangoro!” Shouted a referee standing in the center of the field, indicating towards the winner.

Meanwhile, Gloom’s trainer came running by me, quickly tending to his pokemon. I could only assume he ran to a pokemon center as immediately after returning Gloom to its pokeball, the boy ran out the door at breakneck pace.

I gestured to Lucario towards the stands where more than a dozen people and some pokemon were scattered across and we quickly found ourselves sitting somewhere near the top, away from everyone else. Lucario was transfixed as the referee called for two more trainers to the battlefield.

I’d never seen a pokemon battle set up in person, I knew the basics from reading and that one-time Lucario stole a Rotom deck, but never for my own eyes. Though I’d see hundreds of real battles out in the wild. Still, this was an entirely new and exciting experience.

The two trainers both selected their pokemon at the same time, on one side the royal looking Pyroar stood gallantly with immense confidence. His many wavering from the fire emanating off his body like a walking furnace. Upon walking to the center, it roared out its name in a battle cry. On the other side was a smaller but no less useful Furfrou. With no type advantages out on the field, being that Furfrou was simply a normal type pokemon, this matchup was fairly even in terms of type. Now it just came down to trainer, and pokemon.

Both pokemon came close to the center, taking hostile and confident measures against one another, they were getting heated up. The referee on the side put his arm up, before swiping it down. “Let the battle begin!”

“Pyroar use Flamethrower!” The trainer screamed no more than a millisecond after the battle started, attempting to catch his opponent off guard.

Pyroar itself acted equally without hesitation, opening its large maw and emitting a beam like fire from its mouth that shot with petrifying speed toward its target.

The other trainer must’ve been surprised at the suddenness of the attack and failed to call out a command in time, causing the fire to slam into Furfrou with full impact, sending the pokemon more than a dozen feet back. As the move wasn’t too effective, Furfrou landed on its paws and howled back at its attacker, angry from the attack.

“Furfrou use double team!” The trainer calls, no regaining her footing.

More than half a dozen Furfrou appear in mirror images around the Pyroar, forcing it to back slowly away in caution at all the pokemon confusing its senses.

“Now Furfrou! Bite!” All the mirror images began running at the lone Pyroar in the field, a hundred-foot falls sounded like a marching army headed towards a lone soldier.

“Pyroar! Fire Fang on the closest ones!”

Pyroar’s maw once again lit with a burning flame and it mauled at the closest image just before it made contact, causing it to disappear as if it were never really there. The royal pokemon only paused for a moment before turning to the next one, attacking it viciously with its inferno filled mouth like a rabid animal. This method only worked for two images before Furfrou struck.

The real Bite came right after the last Fire Fang attack from behind the Pyroar, catching the pokemon by surprise and causing it to flinch, creating another opening.

“Now Furfrou, finish it with Take Down!” She cried out.

That move is risky, trying to finish with a move that damages oneself as well as the opponent even when properly connecting. Though the move itself is extremely powerful, so now would be the best time to use it when the opponent was stunned.

“Pyroar quickly, use Flamethrower!” The panicked trainer shouted out to his pokemon.

The gap was too close though, Pyroar had just been about to unleash a torrent of flame when Furfrou in its propelling speed impacted right into the lion’s chest. The full impact of the force being traded directly from Furfrou into the Pyroar, sending the larger pokemon hurtling across the field paw over head to its trainer. The lion impacted the field on its back with a heavy thud only inches from the trainer box, kicking up a mess of dust. The dust steadily cleared away to reveal the unconscious Pyroar, whereas Furfrou stood shakily but still proud on the field.

The referee’s arm went up. “The match is over! Lindsay and her Furfrou win!”

Cheers and approval claps erupted from the crowd below me at the battle. I didn’t join in though. While I wasn’t overly impressed by the battle, I was feeling something else that mattered more after watching the battle in person.

I was invigorated, I was sitting in the crowd, and I still got a rush.

Lucario looked at me the same time I looked towards him, and I could tell we were thinking the same thing.

We wanted to battle.

We wanted to win.

“I’ve never seen you here before.” An approaching girl said as she came up the stairs towards my seat. She looked just a bit younger than I was, with brown curly hair and bright emerald, green eyes. She was wearing a pink shirt with black little bowties going down in and had an equally pink purse over her shoulder. Behind her followed a much, much larger boy with black hair and a black shirt with a picture of a Vanillish on it.

It was a diverse pairing I suppose.

“It’s my first time here, what of it?” I asked back, wondering what angle they had for coming up to me out of nowhere.

“My name is Shauna, and this is my friend Tierno.” She said, introducing her friend who gave me a “yo”, one which I didn’t acknowledge. “I was going to come and say hello to begin with, but Tierno wanted to talk to you about something else.”

‘Oh great.’ I thought to myself. “Fine but keep it quick. I wanted to watch a bit more before leaving.” I responded a bit annoyed, wanting to talk to Lucario about the battle we just watched.

“It’s about that.” Tierno answered instead. “I’m getting ready for the pokemon league to begin, and the gyms will open up around the region. -”

No idea what he's talking about.

“-That’s when Shauna saw you and your Lucario sitting up here all menacing. When she told me she was going to come talk to you, I figured I’d come to challenge you.”

I scoffed at him, feeling confused for a moment. “Challenge me? To what?” I questioned genuinely.

A broad smile spread across his face, and he pointed at the two of us. “What else? I challenge you to a pokemon battle!”